Stasi

The Ministry for State Security, better known by its German nickname Stasi, was the official state security service of East Germany from 8 February 1950 to 3 October 1990, headquartered in East Berlin. With Markus Wolf as director from 1953 to 1986, the Stasi was one of the most effective Cold War intelligence agencies. The Stasi was involved in training Mengistu Haile Mariam's Derg secret police in Ethiopia, Egypt's intelligence forces from 1957 to 1976, Syria's intelligence, stealing technological secrets from Greece, spreading disinformation that the United States created the HIV/AIDS virus as a weapon, funding Neo-Nazi groups in West Germany to discredit them, and covered traces of the Soviet Union's involvement in the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II.